Barbecue Baked Beans

This is my favorite summer side dish. I originally posted it in January. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do

This is a recipe that I modified, the original came from Healthy Cooking Magazine. Annette and I love the tangy quality of these beans. They seem like they should have a lot more fat and bad stuff in them. I am making some Carolina Pulled Pork today and these would make a good side dish for that. I think I included this recipe in the notebook I made of healthy recipes and gave to some of you. This recipe uses barbecue sauce, I use KC Masterpiece original, I like the smokiness. If you don't have a smokey barbecue sauce you can skip it or add liquid smoke, just be careful not to add to much.

By the way this recipe is so easy Annette made the beans for a church pot luck, I just photographed them.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Canadian Bacon, diced
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup barbecue sauce
14 ½ ounces pinto beans, 3 cans rinsed & drained, I use white beans if that is what I have on hand
3/4 cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar, I like mine tangy so I add a little extra
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and Canadian Bacon. Cook on medium-high for 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add brown sugar, barbecue sauce and beans, mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving, if desired.

Shirred Eggs

These are the genuine thing, Frodo made them for Samwise, Merry and I. After breakfast he showed me how to make the eggs and then muttered something about returning a ring. I didn't want to go to the mall so I stayed back and did the dishes. My apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien.

For those that have never had shirred eggs, they are simply baked eggs. This is a recipe I have thought about making for a while, but because it takes more time than fried or scrambled I haven't got around to making it. Today, it is rainy and I couldn't go for morning run so I decided the time had come to give shirred eggs a shot.

Shirred Eggs

No stick cooking spray
1 slice Canadian Bacon per person
1 egg per person
1 tsp of half and half per person
1 tsp grated parmesan cheese, per person

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray ramekin(s) with no stick spray. Put Canadian bacon on bottom of ramekin. Crack egg into ramekin. Put half and half on top of egg. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Tip: I put ramekins on cookie sheet and assembled the eggs, then put cookie sheet in oven rather than trying to put individual ramekins in oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes, eggs should be a little jiggly, if you cook until eggs are set, they will be overdone. I cut up a chive and sprinkled on top for some color.

Barbecue Baked Beans

This is a recipe that I modified, the original came from Healthy Cooking Magazine. Annette and I love the tangy quality of these beans. They seem like they should have a lot more fat and bad stuff in them. I am making some Carolina Pulled Pork today and these would make a good side dish for that. I think I included this recipe in the notebook I made of healthy recipes and gave to some of you. This recipe uses barbecue sauce, I use KC Masterpiece original, I like the smokiness. If you don't have a smokey barbecue sauce you can skip it or add liquid smoke, just be careful not to add to much.

By the way this recipe is so easy Annette made the beans for a church pot luck, I just photographed them.

Barbecue Baked Beans

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Canadian Bacon, diced
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup barbecue sauce
14 ½ ounces pinto beans, 3 cans rinsed & drained, I use white beans if that is what I have on hand
3/4 cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar, I like mine tangy so I add a little extra
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and Canadian Bacon. Cook on medium-high for 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add brown sugar, barbecue sauce and beans, mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving, if desired.